The invention relates to a stable, in particular a cubicle stable for keeping cows, comprising a dwelling area for animals, a feeding area with a floor for storing and presenting feed and a partition between the dwelling area and the feeding area with openings allowing heads of animals in the dwelling area access to the feeding area.
In known stables of this type, the feed is placed in desired amounts in the part of the feeding area near the partition. This is a labor-intensive activity, even if special costly machines for displacing the feed are employed.
An animal in the dwelling area can reach the feed placed in the feeding area by sticking its head through an opening in the partition. When a large amount of feed is placed so close to the partition that it is accessible to the animals in the dwelling area, a problem arises in that the animals turn up the feed and slaver onto the feed, so that the quality and the keepability of the feed deteriorate strongly. Presenting smaller amounts of feed in succession at the partition entails the drawback of a further increase of the labor intensiveness.
Under the designation "WEELINK-SYSTEM" a stable device is offered on the market, whereby the aforementioned problems have been obviated by virtue of the movable design of the partition. By placing the feed at a suitable distance from the partition, so that the animals can just reach the feed, and pushing the partition to the feed according as it is being consumed, a situation is realized where at all times a small portion of the feed is accessible to the animals. As a result, at all times the animals eat fresh feed from the side of the feed placed in the feed area (mostly in the form of packs or compressed blocks). As a consequence, it is sufficient to supply feed once every 6-8 days, for which a common tractor, optionally equipped with a silage cutter, can be used. In stables provided with such a device cows take in the food faster and the uptake of dry feed is so much better that approx. 25% of the costs of concentrated food can be saved.